Is There a Connection Between Sleep and Weight?

Is There a Connection Between Sleep and Weight? One question that is often asked in health related online forums is: “Is there a connection between sleep quality and a healthy weight?”. While there is no clear cut, definite answer to this question, there are some studdies which suggest that lack of sleep can make a person more susceptible to gaining weight. This can be made worse in people who have an unhealthy diet or get very little exercise. The mechanism of action for the link between sleeping and weight involves the hormones leptin and grehlin. These hormones are found in both fat cells, as well as in the digestive tract.

Too little sleep can cause a decrease of leptin levels, which could encourage a person to eat more even if they are full. Insufficient sleep has also been shown to increase levels of ghrelin, which acts as an appetite stimulant. The solution is simple, however: getting 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night can restore the levels of these hormones to normal amounts.

Snippet from source “Each year, readers of Consumer Reports pose hundreds of questions. One common query: What’s the connection between sleep and weight?”   http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/07/sleep-more-weigh-less.html

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